Pros & Cons
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- Many security, privacy, and performance features
- Integrated VPN
- Speedy on-demand malware scan
- All-inclusive premium services are available
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- No protection against malicious or fraudulent URLs
- No current lab test scores
- VPN country selection is awkward
- Premium services are disproportionately expensive
MacKeeper Specs
| On-Access Malware Scan | |
| On-Demand Malware Scan | |
| Vulnerability Scan |
In the Windows realm, most antivirus apps are associated with a more powerful security suite, and some come loaded with suite-level features. When it comes to protecting your Mac, antivirus is often all you get. In a crowd of simple antivirus apps with basic features, MacKeeper stands out as a suite that covers security, privacy, and performance. That said, it still lacks protection against malicious and fraudulent URLs and doesn’t appear in current antivirus lab tests. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus costs a good bit less than MacKeeper and boasts perfect scores from two labs, while Norton 360 Deluxe also covers Windows, Android, and iOS devices, and holds a perfect score from one testing lab. Accordingly, both of these are Editors’ Choice winners for Mac antivirus.
How Much Does MacKeeper Cost?
A one-year, one-Mac MacKeeper subscription lists for $71.40. For $89.40, you can protect three Macs. Monthly pricing is available, but $14.95 per month adds up to a tidy sum over time.
The most common price to protect one Mac for a year is just under $40. ESET, G Data, and Webroot are competitors that hit this price point. At the three-Mac tier, MacKeeper is still more expensive than all but McAfee Total Protection, and McAfee is a full cross-platform security suite. To be fair, MacKeeper also goes well beyond the features of a simple antivirus.
MacKeeper doesn’t extend its volume discounts to five or more licenses, while Norton 360 Deluxe only comes in a five-license subscription at $119.99 per year. That price gets you five cross-platform security suite licenses, five VPN licenses, and 50GB of storage for your (Windows-only) online backups.
You can, of course, get macOS antivirus protection for no charge at all. Avira Free Antivirus, Avast, and AVG all offer free protection for your Mac. As I’ll detail below, both Avast and AVG earned perfect scores from two independent antivirus testing labs.
Some macOS security utilities require the newest versions of macOS, while others are happy with macOS versions that can charitably be called antique. ProtectWorks AntiVirus, for example, is happy with anything from 10.6 (Snow Leopard) to the present. MacKeeper falls in between; like Avast and CleanMyMac, it requires at least 10.13 (High Sierra).
Getting Started With MacKeeper
On my test Mac, MacKeeper’s installation went quickly. Right after installation, it asked to scan the Mac. During the process, it reasonably asked permission to access files in the Downloads, Documents, and Desktop folders. It also offered to scan an email address for possible breaches; I postponed that scan. The main scan finished quickly and displayed a big Activate and Fix button.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)If you want to fix the problems found, you need to purchase the product or apply an activation key. After activating and returning to the scan results, I found that, like every modern Mac antivirus, it asked for full disk access. It noted that without this permission, the scan results would remain partial.
With activation and permissions in order, MacKeeper proceeded to apply its fixes. These included turning on real-time antivirus, removing junk files, and tweaking system settings for better security. A few items required my permission, like removing installation files for existing programs. Oddly, out of the box, MacKeeper doesn’t enable real-time antivirus. I had to click to turn that feature on and then give the real-time component full disk access.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)I finally saw the main window after MacKeeper quickly fixed the found items. This display features a menu down the left side, divided into Security, Cleaning, Performance, and Privacy items. On the right side is a built-in chat support system, which you can hide when not in use. At the top of the menu, the Find & Fix option, selected by default, features a big security status display in the middle, with large icons for the same four feature categories used in the menu. After a scan, their labels read Security Protected, Cleaning Maintained, Privacy Guarded, and Performance Optimized.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)To complete the setup, I enabled the StopAd ad blocker in Chrome and Safari. Note that the browser extensions strictly block ads. MacKeeper doesn’t attempt to divert the browser from malware-hosting sites or fraudulent (phishing) sites the way Bitdefender, Norton, and most competing Mac antiviruses do. Nor does it mark dangerous links in search results.
Antivirus Lab Scores
When I evaluate Windows antivirus apps, I perform hands-on tests using a collection of real-world malware samples that I collect, curate, and analyze myself. I use several hand-coded utilities to aid in my testing. It’s a nice system…and it’s totally useless when my testing happens on a Mac. My programs don’t run on macOS, and I have no similar collection of Mac-focused malware. Thus, results from independent testing labs become especially important.
In 2024, MacKeeper appeared in test results from AV-Test Institute and came within a half point of the best possible score. An antivirus can earn up to six points each for protection, performance, and usability, and MacKeeper earned all six for protection and usability but dropped to 5.5 for performance. In 2021, it detected 100% of Mac malware and 100% of Windows malware in tests by AV-Comparatives but didn’t receive certification because its real-time protection was not enabled by default. As noted above, you still have to manually turn on real-time protection.
Those are the last dates for which we have MacKeeper results. It hasn’t appeared in reports from either lab since then.
To be fair, two-thirds of the Mac antiviruses I follow don’t have current results from either lab. Among these are ClamXAV, McAfee, and Vipre Advanced Security. Those three did appear in one or more past test reports and may turn up again. The labs frequently shuffle their test subjects.
Looking at winners, Avast One Basic, AVG, and Bitdefender earned perfect scores from both labs. Norton and F-Secure topped out with AV-Test but didn’t appear in the latest report from AV-Comparatives.
Antivirus and Security Features
MacKeeper ran a quick malware scan during the installation process. On my clean test Mac, it naturally found nothing. I wanted to run a full scan of the entire Mac but didn’t immediately see how. I eventually figured out I should click the big Want More? button on the main screen. This revealed some additional options, among them a deep virus scan.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)The deep virus scan finished in 18 minutes, about half the current average. A repeat scan ran slightly faster. That’s speedy—Bitdefender and Trend Micro took over two hours. At the other end of the scale, Webroot Antivirus did the job in less than three minutes.
Some Mac antivirus tools eschew scheduled scanning, figuring real-time protection is sufficient. Among these are Bitdefender, F-Secure, and G Data. Making full use of all its protective layers, MacKeeper schedules a daily scan that both checks for malware and notes any opportunities for optimization. It also notifies you that a full scan is due every two weeks; you can change the reminder to once a month or once a week.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)As noted, I don’t have a collection of macOS malware for testing, but most Mac antiviruses do their best to wipe out any Windows malware they encounter. While these items can’t infect the Mac, eliminating them foils any chance that the Mac might serve as a carrier.
I copied a folder with my current Windows samples to a USB drive and plugged it into the test Mac. MacKeeper’s real-time protection silently activated when I opened the folder of samples, quickly eliminating 74% of them.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)That 74% score is down from MacKeeper’s 83% detection rate when last tested. Quite a few competitors have done better. Avast quarantined 97% of these samples, and McAfee came close behind with 96%.
A discussion with an agent via the built-in chat support suggested that MacKeeper should protect users from dangerous websites, a category that might include phishing sites. For a sanity check on this possibility, I performed an abbreviated version of my standard phishing protection test. I concluded that, as when I last evaluated it, MacKeeper does not attempt to steer its users away from fraudulent websites.
Some competitors have earned excellent scores in my hands-on phishing protection tests under Windows and macOS. When last tested, Avira and McAfee managed 100%, and Norton took 99%.
Back in the main window’s menu, in the Security section, you’ll find Adware Cleaner below Antivirus. Most antivirus tools clean up adware and other unwanted programs; I’m not sure why MacKeeper uses a separate scan. In any case, the scan turned up empty on my test Mac.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)Privacy Features
Every antivirus must remove malicious software from your Mac and prevent future attacks, but there’s more to security than smacking down malware. The best antivirus tools extend protection beyond the computer to protect your privacy, secure your communications, and more. In its Privacy menu section, MacKeeper features ID Theft Guard, the Private Connect VPN, and a browser extension called StopAd.
ID Theft Guard
If you allow it during installation, ID Theft Guard scans to see if the email associated with your MacKeeper account has been exposed in a data breach. You can repeat the scan and add other email addresses, though additional ones must be verified using an emailed code. MacKeeper looks for related exposure of other personal information such as your name, credit card, or SSN.
Once I saw the scan results, I realized why confirmation is required. You not only get a list of breached accounts but also see the exposed passwords. It wouldn’t do to let users peek at breached passwords for accounts they don’t own.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)The breach description sometimes refers to a specific website, such as Malwarebytes or IObit. It describes other breaches as collections or combo lists pulled from multiple sources. When possible, the description includes a link to visit the site and change your password. When you’ve done all you can, you click a big button to mark the problem as fixed.
I ran into several breach reports with the label “Sensitive Source” and no other information beyond an encrypted password and the date. The description suggested revealing the source might hinder an ongoing investigation or unfairly “tarnish an employee’s reputation.” In the advice section, MacKeeper recommends you just mark the item as fixed since there’s nothing you can do. This treatment is uncommon—the only place I’ve seen it before is in the Safe Me app, which used identical wording.
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For simple website breaches, go and change your password immediately! As for the combos and sensitive sources, it’s not as easy. If you recognize the revealed password, you should change it anywhere you’ve used it, with a new password for each site. A password manager is a must for this task. Once you’ve cleared up all the problems, you can mark them as fixed and set MacKeeper to monitor the email address for future breaches.
While ID Theft Guard goes beyond competitors that simply check your email on the HaveIBeenPwned website, its name is a bit ambitious. A full identity theft protection service includes this sort of breach monitoring as one of many facets, including credit monitoring, tracking anomalous transactions, and expert assistance to recover if you experience identity theft.
Private Connect VPN
Going well beyond antivirus basics, MacKeeper comes with an integrated VPN. When you connect to the internet through the VPN, all your communications travel through an encrypted channel to the VPN server you selected. That keeps anyone, even the shady owner of the coffee shop network you’re using, from snooping on your web traffic.
In addition, your internet requests seem to come from the server, not from your own IP address. This hides you from trackers trying to get your location and can even let you access region-locked content unavailable in your country. Note that by accessing location-blocked content using a VPN, you may be violating your terms of service. Netflix, in particular, frowns on this behavior. You may have to search for a while to find a VPN that works with Netflix, and even then, a service that works one day may be blocked the next.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)Looking at the list of available servers, I was initially confused. I saw a bunch of US locations near me on the West Coast, then some in Canada, then more US locations, then Mexico, and so on. After some cogitation (and a bit of measuring on a map) I concluded that the list is ordered by distance from my current location. It may be amusing to note that for me, Colombia, Ireland, Japan, and Norway are all roughly the same straight-line distance. But this is not the information I’d want when choosing a server for my VPN connection.
According to the company, MacKeeper now offers 322 server locations in 57 countries. With so many choices, I’d appreciate a more structured list. Instead of a single scrolling list with more than 300 entries, how about creating an alphabetic list by country with submenus for cities when appropriate?
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)On the plus side, MacKeeper offers multiple locations in South America and one in Africa, regions often ignored by VPN networks. Servers are also available in several VPN-unfriendly countries: China, Russia, and Turkey. I also noticed a dozen servers in The Netherlands and a couple dozen in Canada marked “(P2P)”. That suggests that P2P is not permitted on the numerous other servers, though I didn’t find clarification one way or another.
Private Connect is Mac-only and not available separately from MacKeeper, so you won’t find a review of it as a standalone VPN. I can report that it’s easy to use. Just pick your server and turn it on. There are no other settings beyond an option to connect automatically at system startup. You won’t find advanced options like kill switch or split tunneling, but then, most users don’t understand or need those. VPN protection is a nice addition to MacKeeper.
The VPN is scheduled to become an even nicer addition in the next version of MacKeeper. The current edition uses the OpenVPN protocol, while the next version will add WireGuard as an option. We at PCMag prefer these protocols, in large part due to their open-source nature. Also coming are “advanced settings…and usage statistics.”
StopAd Browser Extension for Chrome and Safari
MacKeeper encourages you to install the StopAd extension in Chrome and Safari during installation. Enabling the Safari component was a bit odd, as I had to actively enable not one but four items in Safari’s extension list.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)When you visit a website in Chrome, a numeric overlay on the extension’s toolbar button displays the total number of ads and trackers blocked. Clicking the button breaks down that figure into ads and trackers—you can click either of those for a detailed list. On a per-site basis, you can turn off either type of blocking and control whether MacKeeper suppresses those annoying popups that let a site ask permission to send notifications or know your location.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)Put side by side with the Chrome extension, MacKeeper’s Safari extension looks defective. There’s no numeric overlay on the toolbar button; clicking that button doesn’t reveal any details. All you can do is turn the extension on or off for the current website. You get a lot more from this extension in Chrome.
System Cleanup Tools
System cleanup doesn’t relate to security except insofar as it may hide traces of your computer and internet usage from snoops. Still, it’s a common addition to security suites for Windows. MacKeeper helps keep your Mac free of useless files in several ways. In the Cleanup section of the menu, you’ll find Safe Cleanup, Duplicates Finder, and Smart Uninstaller.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)As the name suggests, Safe Cleanup aims to safely eliminate junk files without risking any important files. Running it shouldn’t ever remove anything important. As with many of this antivirus app’s features, it runs automatically during a full system scan, but you can also launch it at will.
The Duplicates Finder requires a bit more finesse. There’s no need to keep multiple copies of the same data files, but when you clean up, you need to make sure you leave the remaining copy in the location where you expect to find it. MacKeeper promises to keep the originals and delete only copies, but I suggest you review its proposed actions before proceeding.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)The duplicate finder scan located just a handful of duplicates, mostly photos. It also correctly found photos that, while not duplicates, were very similar. For example, it matched one photo with a version that was shrunk for posting online and correctly identified the original as better to save. It also matched a picture with an overlaid caption to the original picture. Finally, it flagged hundreds of screenshots (left over from my reviews) for potential deletion. This scan seems effective.
Uninstalling files from a Mac isn’t always straightforward. For some apps, you simply drag from the Finder to the trash. Others require the use of a dedicated uninstaller. And you can’t always be sure you eliminated every trace of a program. MacKeeper’s Smart Uninstaller helps with this problem by seeking and destroying those leftover traces. MacKeeper removed dozens of leftover traces during the initial scan. Clearing those traces saved about 1.4GB in disk space. More importantly, it ensured those leftovers wouldn’t interfere with any future installations.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)A full Smart Uninstaller scan finds leftovers but also reports on installed apps, widgets, and so on. If you use it to uninstall any of these you don’t need, you can be sure there won’t be any leftovers.
Performance-Enhancing Tools
Cleaning up unused files and apps on your Mac will probably provide at least a small performance boost. MacKeeper also offers several features focused squarely on performance: Memory Cleaner, Update Tracker, and Login Items.
The Memory Cleaner promises to enhance performance by freeing up any RAM that’s not actively in use. You can click for a quick cleanup, view memory usage details, or see just how much memory each app uses. I wonder how necessary this is in the modern world of powerful processors and plentiful memory.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)Modern programs and operating systems are generally well protected against malware attacks, but they’re not perfect. When researchers with evil intent discover a security flaw in an app, they craft malware attacks to exploit that flaw. When these exploits appear, the app’s designers toil to create a security patch. But if you fail to install that patch, your Mac remains vulnerable. That’s where MacKeeper’s Update Tracker comes in.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)Update Tracker runs automatically when you install MacKeeper. If it detects important updates, it automatically installs them when possible. When it can’t automate the update process, it informs you of the pending patch, supplying advice and a link.
That leaves the Login Items scan, which helps you manage apps that launch at startup. This startup management feature is common in Windows security apps, less so in those aimed at macOS.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)The four-part scan at installation reported no login items, but when I ran the scan by itself, it came up with seven. Most of these belonged to MacKeeper itself, locked to prevent any changes. Of the rest, I didn’t see any that merited getting booted out of the startup process.
Premium Services
There’s one item from the left-rail menu that I haven’t mentioned: Premium Services. When you invoke this item, you can run a free system checkup guided by a live chat support agent. If you end up subscribing, you can use Premium Services to solve any tech problem, on any device.
(Credit: MacKeeper/PCMag)With a Premium Services subscription, you can get 24/7 support, with unlimited support calls, on any tech topic, including tuning your Mac to the max, support for any app, and help setting up new devices. The Premium Services page online touts a wide variety of problems they’ve solved, from getting a voice-controlled microwave working to configuring a computerized embroidery machine.
The catch? The checkup is free, but fixing problems requires a subscription, and it’s super-expensive, at $696 per year or $408 for six months. McAfee’s Concierge Platinum offers a similar service but charges only $209.95 per year. The Ultimate Service Bundle from Trend Micro costs $189.95 per year, a bit less than McAfee, but it also comes with a five-license subscription to Trend Micro Maximum Security, which alone would list for $89.95 per year. You pay even less, $149.95 per year, for Norton’s Ultimate Help Desk, but you also get less—Norton’s support system covers just one device.
Other security companies offer premium support options at higher or lower levels, but all for considerably less than MacKeeper charges.
Verdict: MacKeeper Is Getting Better, But Still Has Room to Grow
MacKeeper keeps your Mac running smoothly and malware-free, with bonuses like integrated VPN, dark web monitoring, and a powerful uninstaller. It has improved considerably since we last tested it in 2021, so we have raised its score from 2.5 to 3.5 stars. That said, its feature collection would be even better if it included some defense against malicious and fraudulent websites, and we would have more confidence in its capabilities if an independent lab certified it. Our Editors’ Choice products for Mac antivirus, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and Norton 360 Deluxe, both have lab certification, and both provide all the expected features plus more.